Ever speak to someone older than you (be it your parents, a coworker, whatever) and wonder at what point they became afraid of new things? Ever adamantly swear up, down and backwards that you're never going to be like that? I still do, which is why the following statement in one of those executive training e-newsletters stopped me in my tracks:
"The average age people stop learning new things is 29 years old."
Now I don't know where they got that number, but if it's true, holy crap - we're all in trouble.
Is it inevitable that with age we lose our zest for learning, comfort turning our youthful curiosity into fear of the unknown? Dear God, I hope not. I hope we can chose to fight that trend, consciously push our own personal boundaries, stay current, open, unafraid of the new and improved. That we have the option of choosing not to utter "kids today..." or "when I was in school..." or similar, limiting phrases glorifying the "good old days" of our youth, somehow recalling only the good elements of life in our teens and early twenties, in spite of the very real negatives of those days. And I really hope we can do all that in a manner that doesn't require becoming those ridiculous people trying to imitate 16 year olds at 42 or 62!
There's got to be a happy medium between stuck and afraid and walking poster child for mid-life crisis. Right?
Someone teach me something, QUICK!!!
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